Hillary and the economists

No, it's not a lame rock band. It's Hillary's recent pronouncement-- concerning the temporary repeal of the federal gas tax-- that economists and her are like oil and water.

From Reuters...

Clinton raised questions about Obama's ability to connect with working-class Americans while dismissing economists who have said her plan to suspend gas taxes over the summer would do little good.

"I'm not going to put my lot in with economists," Clinton said when asked to name an economist who backed her proposal.

"We've got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority of Americans," said Clinton, a former first lady who would be the first woman president.

Clinton is now remiss to play the Rev. (not so) Wright card-- at least explicitly, letting others (wisely) do that for her. But she's enjoying the "elitist" angle-- odd and ironic given her background, her 1990s experience with health care reform, and so on.

Of course, this also reminds me of Baron Hill defending a higher minimum wage in our 2006 Jasper debate-- by dismissing "fancy economists".

Apparently, both Hill and Hillary are flat-earthers with respect to economics...